''Black Magic'', later retitled ''Meeting at Midnight'' for television, is a 1944

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

directed by

Phil Rosen Philip E. Rosen (May 8, 1888 – October 22, 1951) was an American film director and cinematographer. He directed more than 140 films between 1915 and 1949. He was born in Marienburg, German Empire (now, Malbork, Poland), grew up in Ma ...

and starring

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his ...

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

. It was the third Charlie Chan film made by Toler at Monogram Pictures.

Plot

Charlie postpones his trip home from service with the government to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

to help with the investigation of murder involving Number One Daughter (Frances Chan) and an easily spooked chauffeur (

Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films. E ...

). Mr. William Bonner is murdered in the middle of a seance with a total of 8 witnesses, seen and unseen, present. Charlie Chan's daughter Frances Chan (real name Chan) is one of the witnesses and is detained. When police learn of Frances's true identity as Charlie Chan's daughter, he is summoned to police headquarters. The police offer the case to the famous Chinese Detective and he reluctantly agrees in order to get his daughter released. The police cannot find a gun anywhere in the house. Police then learn from the coroner that Mr. Bonner was shot and the bullet did not go all the way thorough, yet it is not lodged anywhere in the body. The seance room is supported by a gadget room to assist in the various ghostly appearances. Birmingham Brown's comedy with the various seance gadgets serve to link the movie audience with a "me too" bond which is very warm and human. Since there was no gun and no bullet, Charlie Chan has the Coroner perform an experiment to determine what might have happened. The case is solved when the murderer brushes up against Charlie Chan in a reenactment of the crime with Charlie Chan sitting where the murdered man was sitting.

Cast

as Birmingham Brown *Frances Chan as Frances Chan *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as Police Sgt. Matthews * Helen Beverly as Norma Duncan / Nancy Wood (as

Helen Beverley Helen Beverley (November 9, 1916 – July 15, 2011) was an American film and stage actress, who began her career in Yiddish theater and films. She was sometimes credited as Helen Beverly. Early life Beverley was born in Boston, Massachusetts, ...

) * Jacqueline deWit as Justine Bonner *

Geraldine Wall Geraldine Wall (June 24, 1907 – June 22, 1970) was an American actress who had numerous stage, film and television credits. Her career involved mainly character roles but encompassed a wide range of different acting parts. Early life Wall wa ...

as Harriet Green *Ralph Peters as Officer Rafferty *

Frank Jaquet Frank Garnier Jaquet (March 16, 1885 – May 11, 1958) was an American actor known for playing supporting roles with his career extended from 1934 to the mid-1950s. Biography In 1925, Jaquet was part of the Summer stock cast at the Elitch ...

as Paul Hamlin

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said the climax was "unusually absorbing".Chan Solves New Crime Los Angeles Times 1 Sep 1944: 10.

References

External links

''Black Magic''
at Charlie Chan Family
Complete film
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* * * 1944 films 1944 crime films American black-and-white films Charlie Chan films Monogram Pictures films 1944 mystery films American crime films American mystery films Films directed by Phil Rosen 1940s American films 1940s English-language films {{mystery-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links